BRACCIANO, Italy - Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes exchanged vows Saturday in a lavish, star-studded wedding celebrated in a fairy-tale setting: a glowing 15th-century castle in this medieval lakeside town. Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Jim Carey were among the more than 150 relatives and friends at the union of “TomKat,” whose relationship has created a media firestorm since the superstar couple announced it little more than a year and a half ago. Giorgio Armani who designed the dress for the wedding was also there.
Oil-fed torches and tiny candles flickered from the battlements and windows of the Odescalchi castle as the couple and guests gathered for the evening wedding in the town about 27 miles northwest of Rome. The ceremony was performed by a Scientology minister, the couple’s publicists said.
The couple’s baby, Suri, came dressed in white and in her mother’s arms, seven months after her birth created a sensation of its own. The best man was Cruise’s best friend David Miscavige and the matron of honor was Holmes’ sister Nancy Blaylock.
Holmes wore a black dress and boots before she changed into an off-the-shoulder ivory silk gown designed by Giorgio Armani for the ceremony. Her father, Martin Holmes, walked her down the aisle and she carried a bouquet of flowers made by Armani including calla lilies.
Cruise, who sported dark shades and waved to fans as he rode through the castle gates in a van, wore a single breasted navy blue Armani handmade suit, with an ivory silk French collar shirt of the same fabric as the bride’s gown for the wedding.
Armani told The Associated Press that Cruise, then Holmes, walked down a stone ramp lined with flag bearers in medieval costumes and to the roll of drums.
They exchanged vows in a former stable decorated simply with white flowers.
“For the Americans, this was very special because Americans do not have this kind of thing back home, and they dream of such things in our beautiful country, and you can see the surprise and the awe on their faces,” Armani said.
He added that the 20-minute ceremony ended with “a never-ending kiss” that prompted some of the guests to shout “stop, stop!”
When the groom drove up, Holmes watched from a castle window and anxiously gestured with her hand. Holmes was giving Cruise a Vacheron Constantin watch engraved simply, “I Love You,” as a wedding gift, the company said. It said she bought the gift in Los Angeles last week.
As the sun began to set, candles were placed in pots along the road to the castle and in some of the windows. Men wearing tuxedos and women holding up the hems of their long gowns walked up the steep path to the castle.
Security was tight, with Carbinieri paramilitary police patrolling the walls of the castle and all vehicles banned from the center of Bracciano.
The flag of the Odescalchi family, whose ancestors include Benedetto Odescalchi, the 17th century pope Innocent XI, fluttered over the castle’s towers.
“When I first walked here, I didn’t know why they chose this place,” said Emily Roeder, 19, of Atchison, Kan., who came to Bracciano for the day from Florence, where she is studying. “Then I saw the castle and the streets all around, and it’s really romantic.”
Hundreds of the town’s 14,000 residents and fans of the stars braved intermittent rain to catch a glimpse of the arrivals. (Source: AP)
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